A U.S. military appeals court ruling has delivered a significant blow to the administration in a development that will negatively impact the final chapter of Joe Biden’s presidency.
The court’s decision, issued late last month, concerns the handling of plea deals for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants, the former of which is considered to be the mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
The ruling found that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin overstepped his authority by rescinding plea agreements in July that had been negotiated and approved earlier this year. Under those agreements, the defendants would have pleaded guilty to war crimes and received life sentences, avoiding the death penalty.
“The court opinion, which has not been formally published yet, said the plea deals reached by military prosecutors and defense attorneys were valid and enforceable, and that Austin exceeded his authority when he later tried to nullify them,” Fox News reported.
“The Pentagon has the option of going next to the D.C. Circuit federal appeals court for emergency review, but the court docket did not show any filings as of” December 31, the outlet noted further.
A hearing is scheduled for this week at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where Mohammad and two other defendants are expected to plead guilty in separate hearings, with the death penalty no longer a potential punishment.
The plea deals in the long-running case against the terrorists were negotiated over the summer and approved by the senior official of the Gitmo military commission. However, these agreements have been met with strong condemnation from several 9/11 victims and U.S. politicians.
“Joe Biden, Kamala Harris have weaponized the Department of Justice to go after their political opponents, but they’re cutting a sweetheart deal with 9/11 terrorists,” now Vice President-elect JD Vance said at the time.
The Pentagon revoked the deals in July. “Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pretrial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024,” a letter from Austin states.
The Pentagon revoked the deals in July. “Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pretrial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024,” a letter from Austin states.
The military judge overseeing the case ruled that Secretary Austin’s intervention was both untimely and outside his jurisdiction. The defendants had already begun fulfilling their obligations under the agreements, and the judge stressed the importance of upholding the integrity of negotiated deals within the military justice system.
Mohammed, the mastermind behind the hijacking plot, coordinated its execution. His co-defendants included Bin Attash, a Yemeni operative who helped train the hijackers and managed logistics, and al-Hawsawi, a Saudi national who provided financial and travel support. All three were captured in Pakistan in 2003 and are currently held at Guantanamo Bay, facing charges in delayed military trials.
The decision has elicited polarized reactions. Some families of 9/11 victims and public officials voiced their frustration, arguing that the scale of the attacks warrants the death penalty. Sally Regenhard, who lost her firefighter son, Christian, in the attacks in New York City, expressed her staunch opposition to the plea deal.
“We are 100 percent against the plea deal. The whole process has been a disaster,” she told the New York Post.
Regenhard, a member of 9/11 Parents and Families of Firefighters and World Trade Center victims, also said that she felt the terrorists “should have been tried at the scene of the crime” in Manhattan federal court, just blocks from Ground Zero.
The agreement would ensure they live out their lives in prison while sparing them from the death penalty.
“This plea deal is atrocious. It’s salt added to the wound. If anybody deserves the death penalty, these terrorists do. They should have been executed years ago,” said Jim McCaffrey, a retired FDNY lieutenant whose brother-in-law, Battalion Chief Orio Palmer, died after reaching the 78th floor of the south tower of the World Trade Center, The Post added.
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